Thursday, September 27, 2007

Do we see all this in begging?

I think, we all India have learned to live with begging and we do not mind seeing large number of beggars in torn clothes and ugly faces begging in front of us. Begging has long history and tradition in India. In some religion, religious people used to collect their food by begging and rest of the time they devote to the meditation. Moreover, in number of religions, it is also believed rightful act to help the needy people by giving them money, cloth or food. However, today which beggars we see in front of us are not religious people or true needy person but some routine beggars whose job is to beg every day. In simple words, we can say that these beggars are earning their livelihood by begging.

The amazing fact in this whole finding about begging is that “Begging has even become a good earning source for number of people”. There are number of beggars who move around us and look very needy and socially isolated but in reality they are biggest exploiters of human emotions. They present such a sympathetic picture of them in front of us that we mostly feel forced to give them money. Numbers of similar examples are present and we all see them but we mostly ignore them because of great art of these beggars. I am describing one of my experiences for your help. This experience is about a beggar who does not have both hands and mostly wear religious outfit. He used to beg money in the buses around Ludhiana bus stand.

Mostly people find him so sympathetic that in one bus he get around 15-30 rupees. It takes hardly 5 minutes in a single bus and soon departe to nest bus. In an hour, he covers at least 7 to 8 buses and he works for around 10 hours. If we calculate all this then he earn from Rs 1050 to Rs 2400 in a single day and Rs 31500 to RS 72000 in a month. All this may look surprising but it is a big reality and real figures could be much larger then these numbers. Now there are number of questions which arise in front of us. Why this hand less person needs so much many? If he do not have both hands then who counts and control his money? Why this person poses as a religious person? Why he only moves in to a bus when it is full? Hardly anyone of us have answers of these questions but one thing is clear that begging has today become a more deep rooted profession and good way to earn money.